One Small Moment
by Raine1
Summary: Story about Leia's thoughts right before the beginning of "A New Hope". R/R


"The information is on board, Your Highness... We will be making the jump to lightspeed in one minute"  
Leia leaned back in her seat and breathed a well-deserved sigh of relief. Those files, well, they could mean the end of tyranny and opression in the galaxy. The downfall of the evil Empire and the vile man who lead it. Emperor Palpatine.   
  
Or they could mean the obilteration of the only rebellion that had survived this far. And then things would return to as there were before the rebellion was formed. And all trace of freedom and justice would be forgotten. And the people within the rebellion would die for their "treason".  
  
Leia felt the ship shift into lightspeed.  
  
  
This was their last chance and either way it went, the order was Leia's to give. She lead this rebellion. And she would take the blame if they should falter. Her father had warned her fully of the risks she was taking. Not only hers, but the lives of thousands upon thousands of people that would follow her to arms. She had taken that heavily to her heart and made a promise to him that he would see freedom restored to the galaxy. The Empire would melt away and a New Republic would be set in place.  
  
And now, she was here. On the Outer Rim, looking for one of the last Jedi. Obi-Wan Kenobi. Leia had studied much about the Jedi and often wondered if she had a bit of this Force-power that they had used. For instance, telepathy was a major part of their training. A bond between the Jedi was formed very early and they supposedly could communicate across distances that some com transmissions couldn't reach. Some, she'd read, could even see into the future. This was what made her wonder.   
  
Over the past months, Leia had begun to have dreams. Not the usual, surrealistic dreams that she could barely recall the next morning. But dreams that were vivid and detailed and left her wondering all through the next day. In some, there was a man. Short, with brown-blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She'd watched him change over the course of one dream. His hair had darkened, his face aged, with a scar across one cheek as the mark of some battle, and he had grown stronger. She was sure this was some kind of Jedi Master. Possibily even Obi-Wan himself, but she wasn't sure. She felt unusually connected to this person. Like she had been looking for him all her life and hadn't even noticed what she was looking for. She felt a warm, comforting presence when he was in her dreams.  
  
Like the presence her mother had around her.  
  
"Mother". The word passed through Leia's lips as a whisper. "What would you think of me now?" Leia wondered. She hadn't known her mother long. She had died when Leia was maybe three or four. Yet Leia missed her terribly. There had been a connection with her mother that Leia had never felt again. At least, not before the dreams had started. Her mother had been such a kind, gentle woman. Yet there was a sadness that had always possessed her eyes. A sadness born of some great hurt that Leia couldn't understand. And sometimes, she didn't want to.   
  
And now, that connection was back. Different, but the same in many ways. It wasn't strong, but every now and then Leia felt something skitter along it to her and back to whoever this man was. She was hearing his echo, just the same as she had with her mother. And it made her long for something. She'd always felt that something was wrong with her world. Things had gone good for her. She'd had the finest education and had entered the Senate at 18. But it had always felt like something was missing. Something important that should have been with her from the start.   
  
Did this man, this Jedi have answers for her? She didn't know, but she hoped Obi-Wan Kenobi would be able to help her. Help her find some meaning to what she had been experiencing for the past few months.   
  
Her father had sent her to get this man for help. They had met long before Leia was born and they had fought together in the Clone Wars. Kenobi had been a general in the Republic's army.   
  
Leia couldn't help but wonder... If he was such a great man, what was he doing out in the Outer Rim? On *Tatooine* of all planets?? What was he hiding from?? The hunt for the Jedi had long ended and he could have emerged with a new identity. Why was he still in hiding?? Maybe the Emperor had some way of tracking Jedi that Leia wasn't aware of.   
  
"We're dropping out of lightspeed, Your Highness" Came the Captain's voice over the com.  
  
Almost immediately, the ship lurched from laser fire. Leia was thrown from her chair. She tumbled over a short table before landing face-down on the floor. She pushed herself up to her knees and shook her head.   
  
"NO!" She screamed at no one in particular. She got to her feet and ran to her computer terminal. She had to get those files off the ship. NOW. She placed the data disk in the port and waited for the longest minute of her life for the files to load onto the data disk. As soon as the computer beeped it's completion, Leia was out the door with the disk. How was she going to get it off the ship???   
  
She looked down the hallway and saw a miracle. A small astromech droid headed in the opposite direction. She'd insert the disk into the droid and record a message for General Kenobi. Then she'd have the droid jettison itself in one of the escape pods and land on the planet to find Kenobi.   
  
She headed down the hallway as fast as she could, determined to make sure that the Empire fell and she swore to herself that she would see it fall soon.  



End file.
